Wow! Aldi lines up a new store

LAVINGTON’S former WOW Sight and Sound building, which has sat vacant for almost two years, is poised to form part of a second Aldi supermarket in the suburb.

Aldi this week lodged a development application with Albury Council for a $2.4 million supermarket in Wagga Road in another boost for the area which has struggled since the freeway opened in 2007.

Aldi already has a store in the nearby Lavington Square shopping centre with the proposed second supermarket to include land now occupied by Albury Furnishings on the southern side of the old WOW building.

The furniture store will be demolished to provide car parking spaces and the former WOW building will be altered and extended to become the supermarket.

Access will be provided from Wagga and Griffith roads with 93 car parks to be provided.

The amalgamated sites sold for just under $3 million.

WOW launched its first store in Townsville more than a decade ago and opened the Lavington store in 2007.

It employed 23 people before the company was placed in the hands of liquidators in early 2012.

“The sale to Aldi is an outstanding outcome for Wagga Road and will encourage further redevelopment of existing buildings,” agent Scott Mann said.

Mr Mann is also involved with the Albury Northside chamber of commerce and said the deal was another boost for the area.

“It is an outstanding result to have such a large parcel taken up by a pretty well known company,” he said.

“The ambulance station is on the way to be built so Wagga Road is now well on the way to turning around.”

A former car yard site at the south-west corner of Wagga and Kaylock roads has also been earmarked for a mix of food and small business tenancies in a recent development application lodged with the council.

The Aldi supermarket will be open seven days a week.

Concerned Wagga Road businesses last year successfully lobbied the council to switch funding allocated for Griffith Road to improvements in Wagga Road.

Aldi opened its first store locally in Melbourne Road, Wodonga a decade ago.

A year later it opened in Lavington and in 2009 in Young Street opposite Bunnings.